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THE LATE ELECTION IN MISSISSIPPI. 



SPEECH 



HON. JOHN K, LYNCH, 



OF MISSISSIPPI, 



IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



MARCH 1, 1877. 




WASHINGTON. 
1877. 



SPEECH 

OF 

HON. JOHN R. LYNCH 



On the report of the select committee on the late election in the State of Louisiana. 

Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I do not rise for the purpose of making 
a partisan speech. I recognize the fact that we are still in the midst 
of an important crisis, in consequence of which it behooves every 
lover of his country to put patriotism above party. It is not my pur- 
pose to speak with regard to the manner in which the late election 
was conducted in Louisiana, except in an incidental way. My maim 
purpose is to call public attention to some of the grave irregularities 
that were committed in the State which I have the honor in part to 
represent upon this floor. It is hardly necessary for me to say that 
this is to me anything else but a pleasant duty. Every considera- 
tion of love of home, of section and people, would necessarily cause me 
to be anxious to throw the mantle of charity over the faults and 
shortcomings of that people, rather than expose them to the public 
gaze. I confess that my inclination is in this direction. But when 
the offenses of .a people or a portion of them are sufficiently grave to 
bring reproach upon our institutions and demoralize society, then 
their concealment will be more in the nature of a crime than a char- 
itable act. It is in obedience, therefore, to a sense of public duty that 
I shall lay before the country some of the causes that produced what 
is called by some, the great political revolution, in the State of Missis- 
sippi. But I shall not do this because the electoral votes of that 
State have been cast for the candidate of the democratic party. 
However anxious we may be that the man of our choice should be 
successful, yet I hold that it is the duty every true American citizen 
to cordially and cheerfully acquiesce in the will of the people when 
legally and fairly ascertained according to the forms of law, whether 
it be in accordance with our wishes or not. I presume there are none 
who will deny that the perpetuity of our system of Government de- 
pends upon the sacred ness and security of the ballot-box, and that 
whenever our elective system ceases to be pure and sacred, then the 
foundation-stone of our govermental system will have been destroyed 
andthe final dissolution of the Government, possibly through a bloody 
revolution, will be but a question of time. 

Mr. Speaker, I have not the slightest hesitation in asserting that 
if elections such as the one held in Mississippi in November last are 
to be accepted by the people of this country as a legal and valid ex- 
pression of the will of the people of a Stated then indeed our elective 
system will have come to be a convenient medium for giving legal 
effect to the most outrageous frauds that were ever committed in the 
conduct of elections. The frauds that were committed upon the bal- 
lot-box in that State at the last election in the interest of the dem- 
ocratic party, to say nothing of terrorism and violence, were carried 
so far and were made so general in their application that they have 
not, in my judgment, a parallel in the history of a State in this Union 



Mr. Speaker, these frauds were carried so far beyond the bounds of 
reason, decency, and propriety that no man who has the slightest re- 
gard for his reputation, who believes in maintaining and upholding 
our governmental system, can for a moment defend them, countenance 
them, or indorse them. The frauds that were committed in the sixth 
congressional district alone, to say nothing of violence, made a change 
in the vote of the State of not less than 10,000 ; and the frauds 
that were committed in that district, in connection with violence, 
made a change in the vote of the State of not less than 20,000. Some 
may think that these are extravagant assertions, but I make them 
upon my knowledge as a citizen of the State. Every assertion that 
I have made is susceptible of the clearest proof. To give some idea 
as to how the election was conducted, I will call particular attention 
to the sixth district. The counties of which that district is now com- 
posed have voted at previous elections as follows : 

1869. 

Republican 20, 949 

Democratic 3, 374 

Republican majority 17, 575 

1871. 

Republican 20, 312 

Democratic 3, 156 

Republican majority 17, 156 

■ 1872. 

Republican 21,389 

Democratic 4, 190 

Republican majority : 17, 199 

1875. 

Republican 15,895 

Democratic 9, 833 

Republican majority : 6,062 

The following is the result in 1876 : 

Democratic 15, 788 

Republican, 11,188 

Democratic majority , 4, 600 

In 1875 fraud and violence were confined chiefly to four counties — 
Coahoma, Washington, Warren, and Claiborne. Otherwise the re- 
sult would have been about the same that year as at previous elec- 
tions. In 1876 the frauds that were committed in the four bounties 
above named were made applicable to every county in the district, 
with possibly one or two exceptions. I will now give some particu- 
lars as to how the election was conducted in 1876 : 

ADAMS COUNT? . 

The frauds that were committed in Adams County made a change 
of over 1,200 votes in that county alone. To give a correct idea of 
the strength of the two parties in the county, I will give the vote of 
the county at several preceding elections : 

1869. 

Total vote polled 3,882 

Republican .' 3, 173 

Democratic 709 

Republican majority 2, 463 



1872. 

Total vote polled 3, 783 

Republican ' 2, 97-2 

Democratic 811 

Republican majority , 2,161 

1875. 

Total vote polled 3, 419 

Republican 2, 626 

Democratic 793 

Republican majority 1, 833 

1876. 

Total vote polled 3, 949 

Republican 2, 265 

Democratic 1, 484 

Republican majority 581 

The above is tlie vote for Congressman as officially returned. I do 
not charge and do not believe that the number of votes counted was 
in excess of the number actually polled ; but by comparing the reg- 
istered vote of each election precinct with the official returns of the 
precincts it will be clearly seen where the frauds were committed. 

Complete registration of Adams County, as it stood on election day, 
November 7, 1876. 



Precincts. 



Court- bouse . . . 
Jefferson Hotel 
Dead-man's 

Beverly 

Kingston 

Palestine 

Pine Ridge 

Washington. .. 



m 


rd 






386 


483 


306 


513 


22 


261 


27 


318 


54. 


448 


37 


351 


48 


296 


84 


543 


964 


3,213 



869 
819 
283 
. 345 
502 
388 
344 
627 

4, 177 



Complete official returns of Adams County for election held Novemberl, 1876. 



Precincts. 



Court-bouse 

Jefferson Hotel .. 
Dead-man's Bend 

Beverly 

Kingston 

Palestine 

Pine Ridge 

Washington 

Totals 



For electors — For Congress 



416 

339 
30 
36 

396 
51 
58 

301 

1,627 



400 
434 
223 
294 
91 
315 
261 
310 



2, 328 






416 

340 
30 
35 

402 
51 
61 

349 



1,684 



a p, 
^P3 



400 
426 
223 
295 
85 
315 
258 
263 



2, 265. 



6 

It will be seen from the above that the revolution in favor of de- 
mocracy and ''reform" was confined exclusively to two precincts — 
Washington and Kingston. The returns from the other precincts 
were just about as the republicans had calculated. What, then, was 
the cause of this great and unexpected cbauge at Washington and 
Kingston? The answer is an easy one. There were over 600 re- 
publican tickets taken out of the ballot-boxes at those two pre- 
©incts, and the same number of democratic tickets substituted in 
their stead. I went to Kingstou ou election day myself, and remaiued 
there from the time the polls were opened until two o'clock in the 
afternoon, at which hour the election officers took a recess for din- 
ner. Up to that time 361 votes had been polled, and to my own 
personal knowledge over 300 of that number were straight repub- 
lican tickets. One hundred and twenty-six votes were polled after 
dinner, about 85 of that number being republican. When the votes 
were counted at night there were just 91 votes in the box for the re- 
publican electoral ticket and 85 for the congressional candidate, thus 
showing clearly that all, or nearly all, of the republican votes that 
were polled before dinner were taken out of the box when they went 
to dinner and the same number of democratic tickets substituted in 
their stead. At the Washington precinct they took no recess for din- 
ner, but after the polls were closed at night they counted a few tickets 
and then took a recess until the next morning. When they met the 
next morning to proceed with the count it was ascertained that be- 
tween two and three hundred republican tickets had been taken out 
of the box and the same number of democratic tickets substituted in 
their stead.. The objective point, however, was to carry the election 
for Congressman. In changing the tickets, therefore, they were gen- 
erous and magnanimous enough to put in about fifty tickets contain- 
ing the names of the republican candidates for presidential electors 
with that of the democratic candidate for Congress. This accounts 
for the material difference in the vote for President and Congressman. 
It is perhaps proper to state that the republicans were allowed but 
one inspector of elections at each box, and the ballot-box remained 
in the possession of a democrat. 

PUBLIC OPINION. 

It will perhaps be remembered by some that in a speech which I 
had the honor of delivering in this Hall during the last session of 
Congress I stated that the election of 1875 in the State of Mississippi 
-brought to the front the worst element in the ranks of the demo- 
cratic party in that State. The election of 1876 fully substantiated 
that assertion. Democrats who reside in counties that were allowed 
to go republican in 1875 have been tautalized ever since and charac- 
terized as cowards. Public opinion has become so demoralized that 
the commission of the most outrageous frauds upon the ballot-box is 
not only encouraged, tolerated, and justified, but it is absolutely de- 
manded as a condition-precedent to recognition in the party of re- 
form according to the modern acceptation of that term. These frauds 
are apparently committed without the slightest compunction of con- 
science and without the slightest regard for any law, moral or statu- 
tory. To carry elections with or without votes, peaceably andfairly if 
possible, forcibly and unfairly if necessary, have now become to be set- 
tled maxims with the element that is now in the ascendency in the 
democratic party in that State. Honesty and fairness in the manage- 
ment and conduct of elections on their part are the exception, and not 
the rule. But they did not seem to be satisfied with the inauguration of 



the policy of fraud, but deemed it essential to inaugurate or rather con- 
tinue the policy of violence as well. Nearly every democratic cluh in 
a number of counties in the State is an armed military orgnizatiou, 
brought into existence for aggressive political purposes. In some of 
these counties the violence and terrorism was so intense that not a 
republican meeting was allowed to be held nor a republican speech 
to be made at any time during the campaign. It is hardly necessary 
to say that in such locations lawlessness reigns supreme. Eepublic- 
ans who reside in such localities are permitted to do so simply as a 
matter of favor and not as a matter of right. The only law that is 
recognized or respected is the law of force. There is absolutely no 
security for life, liberty, or property except such as may be afforded 
as a gracious favor by these armed clubs. I now call attention to 
Warren County. 

In Warren County there are about seven thousand voters, and over 
five thousand of that number are colored men and republicans. In 
1876 over three thousand, republicans were positively denied the right 
to register and consequently the right to vote. To give a correct 
idea of the strength of the two parties I will give the vote of the 
county at several preceding elections : 

1869. 

Total vote polled 5,638 

Republican 4. 560 

Democratic 1, 078 

Republican majority 3, 482 

1872. 

Total vote polled 6, 014 

Republican 4, 729 

Democratic 1, 285 

Republican majority 3, 444 

1875. 

Total vote polled 5,648 

Democratic 3, 606 

Republican 2,042 

Democratic majority 1, 564 

The following is the result in 1876 : 

Total vote polled 2, 658 

Democratic 2, 043 

Republican 615 

Democratic majority 1, 428 

The elections held in 1869 and in 1872 were conducted with perfect 
fairness, and can therefore be accepted as a fair test of the strength 
of the two parties. The election held in 1875 is generally admitted to 
have been a fraud and a swindle. Senators Bayaed and McDonald, 
as members of the Senate committee that investigated the election 
of 1875, declared in their minority report that the election was a 
fraud, and that a ticket had been declared elected that had not been 
voted for by any one in the county. 

The charge that over three thousand republican voters were denied 
the right to register and eonsequently the right to vote is fully sub- 
stantiated by the official returns. In the country districts, where the 
colored voters are largely in the majority, the registrars would make 
affirmative answers to certain unlawful and unauthorized questions a 
condition-precedent to re^istr ttion. Whenever a voter would fail to 



8 

give an affirmative answer to any one of these questions he was told 
to step aside. But in the city of Vicksburgk, where the hulk of the 
democratic vote of the county is, no such questions were asked, and 
thus every white man who desired to do so was allowed to register, 
while thousands of colored voters were denied that right. But even 
if those whom they allowed to register had been allowed to vote, and 
the votes counted as polled, the result in the county would have been 
different, for we find the registration, though incomplete and fraud- 
ulent, to be about as follows: whites 2,019, blacks 1,689. 

It will be seen from the above that the democratic vote is only 24 
in excess of the whole number of white men registered, while the 
republican vote is 1,074 less than the whole number of colored men 
registered. This result was brought about by refusing to receive the 
votes of a large number of colored men, and it is also believed that 
frauds were committed at several precincts, similar to those that were 
committed at Washington and Kingston, in Adams County. The 
Davis Bend bos, where over 400 republican votes were polled, and 
not more than about 5 democratic votes were polled, was rejected by 
the registrars for alleged irregularities. They did not pursue the same 
course in this county that was pursued in a majority of the republican 
counties. In a majority of the republican counties they allowed the 
colored men to register and vote, but before proceeding with the count 
they would take out republican tickets by thousands and substitute 
democratic tickets in their stead, and then telegraph over the country 
that the colored men had voted the democratic ticket. In Warren 
County they thought it would be more convenient, and perhaps more 
honorable, to disfranchise the republican voters, and not allow them 
to vote at all. They were satisfied that the colored men were repub- 
licans, and, if allowed to vote at all, would vote for the candidates of 
that party. Every effort that had been made to induce them to join 
the democracy had. proved unsuccessful. 

The devotion manifested by the colored voters for the republican 
party under such circumstances is certainly worthy of the highest 
possible commendation, even though the wisdom or propriety of this 
devotion may sometimes be open to question. The democrats of 
Warren County know that the colored voters of that county are re- 
publicans, and therefore they concluded to disfranchise them by 
thousands. 

Think of it, Mr. Speaker ; here are more than three thousand sover- 
eign citizens of this country ; men who are clothed by the Constitu- 
tion of their country with the right to participate in the choice of 
their own rulers ; men who laid their lives upon the altar of their 
country in the hour of its need ; and yet these men were positively 
denied the right to vote, for no other reason than because they are 
republicans. It cannot be said that they failed, refused, or neglected 
to conform to the requirements of law, for they did everything that 
the law required of them. Their disfranchisement was the result of 
a settled determination to deprive them of their rights and privileges 
of American citizens. 

CLAIBORNE COUNTY. 

In Claiborne County not less than 1,000 republican voters were 
positively denied the right to register. Terrorism and violence were 
inaugurated by the democrats and continued up to the election. The 
election was also characterized by great frauds. 

The following information will show the strength of the two par- 
ties at several preceding elections : 



I860. 

Total vote polled 2, 548 

Republican 2, 091 

Democratic 457 

Republican majority 1, 634 

1872. 

Total vote polled 2,724 

Republican 2, 238 

Democratic 484 

Republican majority 1, 752 

1875. 

Total vote polled 1,590 

Democratic 1, 094 

Republican 496 

Democratic majority 598 

1876. 

Total vote polled 1,924 

Democratic 1, 498 

Republican 426 

Democratic majority 1,072 

The above figures speak for themselves. It requires no argument 
to show that the elections of 1875 and 1876 were carried by fraud, 
violence, and terrorism. In further proof of the charge that the elec- 
tion held in 1876 was characterized by great frauds, I will compare 
the total number of votes polled with the total number of voters reg- 
istered : 

Total number of voters registered ' 2,196 

Colored 1,279 

White 917 

It will be seen that the total vote polled was only 272 less than the 
whole number of voters registered, while the democratic vote is 581 
more than the whole number of white men registered and the re- 
publican vote is 853 less than the whole number of colored men reg- 
istered. Admitting that the 272 voters who failed to vote were col- 
ored men, it will be seen that there were still 581 colored men who 
did vote, and whose votes were counted as having been polled for 
the democrats. That that number of colored men voted the democratic 
ticket is what no reasonable man who is familiar with the politics of 
the county will affirm. 

JEFFERSON COUNTY. 

In Jefferson as in Adams County the registration was conducted 
with fairness and impartiality ; but a reign of terror was inaugu- 
rated throughout the county by the democrats. Republicans were 
not allowed to hold public meetings under any circumstances. The 
democratic party of the county is an armed military organization. 
Armed bodies of democrats would attend, interrupt, and break up 
every meeting the republicans would attempt to hold. The election 
was a farce from beginning to end, as will be clearly seen by compar- 
ing the election of 1876 with several proceeding elections. 

1869. 

Total vote polled 2,334 

Republican 1,919 

Democratic 415 

Republican majority 1,504 



10 

1872. 

Total vote polled 2,152 

Republican 1,698 

Democratic 454 

Republican maj ority 1, 244 

1875. 

Total vote polled 2,600 

Republican 1,922 

Democratic 678 

Republican maj ority 1, 244 

1876. 

Total vote polled 1,965 

Democratic 1, 545 

Republican 420 

Democratic majority 1, 125 

There were registered in 1876 2,940 voters: 2,154 colored and 786 
whites. It will be seen that the total vote polled was 975 less than 
the whole number of voters registered. The democratic vote was 
759 more than the whole number of white men registered. Admit- 
ting that the 975 voters who failed or were denied the right to vote 
were colored men and republicans, still it will be seen that the dif- 
ference between the republican vote and the whole number of col- 
ored men who voted is 759. The conclusion is irresistible that an 
organized system of frauds and swindles upon the ballot-box was 
inaugurated in nearly every republican county in the State. It was 
the settled determination of the democracy to carry the election 
peaceably and fairly if possible, forcibly and unfairly if necessary. 

WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

In Washington County the republicans were positively denied 
rexjreseutation on any of the boards that were appointed for hold- 
ing the elections at the several voting-precincts. There were reg- 
istered in 1876 4,648 colored men, and 1,264 whites. Republican clubs 
were organized throughout the county with a membership of over 
three thousand, and yet the official returns as counted and officially 
promulgated are as follows : Democratic, 2,905 ; republican, 1,591 ; 
democratic majority, 1,314. The following is the vote of the county 
at several preceding elections : 

1869. 

Total vote polled 2, 670 

Republican 2,530 

Democratic 140 

Republican majority 2, 390 

1872. 

Total vote polled 2,757 

Republican- 2,562 

Democratic 195 

Republican maj ority 2, 367 

1875. 

Total vote polled 3, 681 

Democratic 2, 043 

Republican 1, 638 

Democratic majority 405 

1876. 

Total vote polled 4, 496 

Democratic 2, 905 

Republican » 1, 591 

Democratic majority 1, 314 



11 



It will be seen from the above that tbe total vote polled in 1876 is 
1,416 less than tbe total number of voters registered. Admitting that 
tbe 1,416 voters who failed, or were denied tbe rigbtto vote were col- 
ored men and republicans, still tbe democratic vote is 1,641 moretban 
the whole number of white men registered, while the republican 
vote is 1,640, one less than the whole number of votes polled by col- 
ored men, thus showing that tbe votes polled by that number of col- 
ored men were counted for the democrats. I am satisfied that not 
less than one thousand republican tickets, and perhaps two, were 
taken out of the ballot-boxes before they were counted and the same 
number of democratic tickets substituted in their stead. This sys- 
tem of fraud and swindling seems to have been inaugurated and suc- 
cessfully carried out in a majority of the republican counties in tbe 
State. I have selected five counties in the sixth district only for the 
purpose of giving an idea as to how the election was conducted 
throughout the State. 

Tbe following is a list of voters registered in the sixth district in 
1876. I will state in this connection that the registration was con- 
ducted with reasonable fairness in all tbe counties in the district ex- 
cept Warren and Claiborne. In those two counties not less than 4,000 
colored men were denied the privilege of registering. 



Counties. 


Colored. 


White. 


Tunica 


1, 500' 

2, 003 
2, 850 
4,648 
1,402 

700* 
1,689 
1,279 
2,154 
3,213 
2,501 


300* 




735 




850 


"Washington 


1,264 


Issaquena 


245 


Sharkey 


300* 




2,019 


Claiborne 


917 


Jefferson 


786 


Adams 


964 


"Wilkinson , 


754 






Total 


23, 939 
9,134 


9, 134 








14, 805 









♦Estimated. 

THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH. 

As I have said on a former occasion, there is, in my judgment, a 
large element among southern white men who are honestly opposed 
to revolution, to violence, and to frauds in elections. So far as Mis- 
sissippi is concerned I know this to be true. Tbe element that sup- 
ported H. S. Foote for governor as against Jefferson Davis; the 
element that earnestly opposed the secession of the State, but finally 
acquiesced in what they believed to be the will of the majority — this 
element is still strong in that State, but it has never yet been utilized. 
They have been made to believe that the policy of the republican 
party is inimical to southern interests, in consequence of which the 
mass of them have affiliated with an organization which has been the 
bane of the South for tbe last quarter of a century. It is to be hoped 
that the inauguration of a new administration will render possible 
the utilization of this element and thus prevent the ultimate destruc- 
tion of that section of our country. If the present lawlessness is 



12 

allowed to continue ; if mob law is allowed to take the place of civil 
law ; if fraud is accepted as the popular method of carrying elections, 
and violence as the legitimate plan of controlling public opinion, then 
the decay of that section will necessarily follow. In this connection 
I will make a quotation from the minority report of Senators Bayard 
and McDonald, who, as members of a Senate committee, investi- 
gated the Mississippi election of 1875, which I cordially indorse : 

Having thus stated the limitations upon the power of Congress, which a respect 
for the Constitution of our Government and to the decisions of its highest judicial 
tribunal has dictated, we cannot refrain from an expression of our abhorrence and 
hearty reprobation of every act of lawless and so often brutal interference with 
the rights of citizenship which were related by witnesses in our presence. 

Prosperity and happiness can never thrive in a community where such scenes of 
violence can be enacted without condign punishment. By a' law higher than man's 
the " wages of sin is death," and it will be vain for the people of Mississippi to look ' 
for the advancement of their State to that position in the ranks of wealth, influ- 
ence, and reputation which those who love her would desire to see her occupy, un- 
til the spirit of law shall be strengthened and assert itself over the "dangerous 
classes," who have brought disrepute upon her good name. 



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